Consumers abandoning brands for private-label products
Faced with an inflation level without precedent in the past 27 years, an increasing number of consumers are abandoning brands for private-label products.
A survey has found that supermarket sales of private-label products in the first half of the year (or, more accurately, until June 17), have grown 8.6%, while overall supermarket sales are up 1.1%, and only because of the higher prices.
Among “fast-moving products,” that is, those most frequently purchased, the respective rise in sales is 9.8% and 0.8%.
But private-label products, although still significantly cheaper than brand products, have seen their prices rise at a faster clip: What is considered a typical basket of brand goods bought at supermarkets cost €192.19 in June, from €180.08 a year ago, that is 6.72% higher, while a basket of similar, but private-label, goods cost €133.32, up from €123.68 last year, or 7.79%.
This is not the first time private labels have drawn the attention of consumers: Their first major breakthrough was during the years of Greece’s protracted financial crisis. But their share in the consumers’ basket had been declining from 2015 until the recent inflationary surge.
Retail managers say another reason for the turn to private labels is the recent decline in discounts on label products, as they battle rises in costs that make these discounts unprofitable.
